The right granted by the Comissioner of Patents to one or more parties to produce a patented invention. These are granted under certain circumstances as a measure against abuse of patent rights.
A special third-party right to use a patented invention, granted by the State, under certain circumstances involving the non-use of the invention by the patent owner.(FR:Licence obligatoire, IT:Licenza obbligatoria , DE:Zwangslizenz)
A licence granted pursuant to a court order requiring a patent holder to allow a third party to use a patented product or process, where the patent holder has failed to exploit it, or has exploited it on overly restrictive terms.